"Not about Religion but about Relationship"

Please read all the way through and read the Disclaimer as well!!!

Do you want to hear something profound that will shake your boots and make you want to throw stones at me? OK I will say it. "Jesus was the most RELIGIOUS Man of His days."

Make you mad yet. Jesus was Religious! Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes!! Tick you off yet. LOL Yes He was, you better believe it. There is PURE and IMPURE Religion, we too often are scared to even say the Word RELIGION anymore, but the truth is we are suppose to be religious, not like the religious leaders of Jesus days but like the Religious leader that Jesus was in His days on earth. Pure and undefiled.

James 1:27
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained [a]by the world.

People quote this verse left and right and all they get out of it is that it is pure to visit the orphan and widow. Then they make a muck with it by pretending to genuinely care outwardly by their speech to others about the orphan and the widow in order to make others think they are pure. We see this all the time. Doesn't mean they are bad people just means that they have forgotten the last part of the verse indeed.

"...To keep oneself unstained by the world." The Contemporary English Version says, "...and not let this world make you evil." Wow, now that is profound. The Amplified says the word, "uncontaminated", as in contaminated with filth or poisonous material. So to be religious is or almost the opposite of what most in the Church perceive as religious. We see the religion of certain denominations and we say they are religious. Yes we are right about that too, but it is only the impure form of religion. The Pharisees were indeed the religious leaders of Jesus days but Jesus said to the multitude this statement.

Matthew 23:3-39
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.

You see Hypocrisy was the Pharisees cup of tea. They were good at it. They were like coffins full of dry bones and they didn't even know it. They looked down upon the downcast of those days, such as the poor, leapers, the sick and the hurting. They wouldn't lift a hand for them instead they demanded everyone's attention as if they were the Greatest in the Kingdom. The exact reason why they wanted Jesus dead, cause the peoples eyes were enraptured with the glory that came with Christ. Their eyes were off the leaders and on the Majestic Ancient of Days, Jesus Christ. Jesus was stealing their show.

Our Lord said do all that they tell you to do, but don't do what they do. So what I am trying to say is that being religious isn't like being a Pharisee or about visiting the orphan and widow. Its about doing the commands of God. The Pharisees had mostly good doctrine they just didn't have revelation that comes from knowing Jesus and they didn't obey their own words either. Most people don't mind saying the word Pure and undefiled religion and then defining it as visiting the orphan and the widow, but that is not the definition, instead that is just two examples of a huge list of things that are pure.

Galatians 5:16-18
New King James Version (NKJV)
Walking in the Spirit

 
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

So here is the deal. If you Walk in the Spirit you will not fulfill the Lust of the flesh. You will not be spotted by the world. You will not be contaminated or stained by the world. You would not let this world make you evil. So being led by, or to Walk by the Spirit as Galatians put it, is the answer to being Pure and Religious. Yes there it is again, being religious, I said it again. Most people want to be led by the Spirit all the time, they want to learn to walk in the Spirit, they WANT to BE RELIGIOUS! They want to be religious they just don't know it yet. They don't know that being religious is what Paul strives for when he says, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Our goal is to be Pure Religious Zealots. Zealous about Jesus and about the Kingdom of God. You don't do this on your own, but you have to have fellowship with God, with His Spirit in order to be one that is led by His Spirit. It is almost like learning to swim and your instructor is the Spirit of the Living God, except His Spirit will never leave you nor forsake you, unlike an instructor that is there solely to train you.

Next time you are about to say this statement, "It's not about Religion, its about Relationship" I am sure you will understand that it is quite the oxymoron. It is one in the same. You can't have a relationship with the Lord without being religious. Having a relationship with the Lord is what makes you pure, it is what cleans you and makes you holy.

Bless you today and God's Grace be with you!

Rich Cohrs

Disclaimer:: Although I have written this blog, I only did it with the purpose of teaching Purity. The famous statement that says, "It's not about Religion but about Relationship" truly inspires people to do what is right and to have a relationship with the Lord. I do believe it is not statement that will stand through fire in itself but I will have to say the spirit of the statement couldn't be more true. The purpose of saying it is to get people's eyes off of doing the impure things and on to Jesus instead. The sole purpose of the statement, right in the heart of it, is indeed true. So saying that, I just wanted folks to have a bit more knowledge. There is no need to hunt all down that say the statement, they are only doing good, but there is no problem explaining to them that there is a PURE Religion also. LOL GBU all in Jesus Name

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Your Destiny is in His River

The only way a true Christian can FIND purpose is by the mercy of God revealing it to him. The only way to WALK in purpose is by the mercy of God allowing you to be completely dead and lifeless in your own purpose and life so the same resurrection power that gave Jesus life on the 3rd day will cause you to walk in completeness of the newness of life in Christ completely surrender and completely a NEW MAN. That is the true purpose of a Christians life and when you reach that purpose all the rest either doesn't matter any more because it just seems to fall in place or is quickly revealed when the need to know arises. When skilled in walking in the Spirit purpose is given but usually in part. Just enough to lead us and everything else is just revealed as we walk in the right directions on a need to know basis. We see in part and know in part with prophecy, so the same could be said of knowing our purpose. That is how God works. He wants us to walk by ultimate FAITH. Destiny was meant to be walked into by the Spirit, not completely revealed. Even in the Book of Revelations we see in part although some high-minded individuals seem to have it all figured out. Beware of those. We don't know the end from the beginning. Jesus does! Get close to the Author and Finisher of your faith (Jesus Christ) and fear of the future will diminish.

Fear spiritual paralyzes us to not walk in the Spirit. Fear will always be there but you have to remember that you are not of the same spirit as fear. You have been delivered from that fear. You have received a new spirit in the new birth that causes you to have the same boldness Jesus had to fulfill his purpose and destiny while on the earth. You have not received the spirit of fear again to bondage. You have received Gods spirit full of power, love, and self-discipline. Godly discipline will always lead us to the same direction. DEATH! TO BE BURRIED in Christ daily so we can walk in the newness of the Spirit who is full of power and love. Our purpose fulfilled has many directions and many turns and curves but one thing is for sure it will always be to love our God with all our heart and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Golden rule is fulfilled by walking in the Spirit. John the apostle was one of the most powerful of all the apostles and it was said that his message of Love was still preach by his own mouth with simplicity right before his death. He simply preached, "Love is the fulfillment of the Law. Love God and Love your neighbor". So simple but so impossible without the mercy of God to allow us to completely die daily and live as a completely NEW MAN. For we have received Gods Spirit FULL of POWER, L O V E, and a DISIPLINED MIND.

So the BIG Question is, "How do we do this?" Great question! Most of it we don't. Most of it God does to us and through us. Philippians 1:6 (New American Standard Bible) 6For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. He, Jesus, is the one who will do it; He is the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our faith. So what do we do in the meantime? Another great question! Like I said before in the first paragraph, "He wants us to walk in ULTIMATE Faith!"  Soooooo, how do we do that? So full of good questions. The answer is different everyday. You must find that out for yourself. I don't know your purpose or your destiny so therefore I can't truly tell you how to walk by faith. So was it pointless for me to write all this for you? NO! If God does everything in and through you and He is faithful to finish the work he started in you, all you have to do is be faithful to obey every time the chance comes up. Every time you feel His leading. Every time you hear His voice. The Ultimate Question now arises. HOW, if I don't feel His leading, and don't hear His voice can I obey? My ultimate point is the answer to this question. TRUST n HIM!!!! He knows what He is doing. Have you ever gone rafting in a river before? It is possible to go upstream for a short while with much perseverance but ultimately you work to hard, sweat to hard, and eventually give up and flow in the same direction as the river flows. God has a river flowing from His thrown. We must trust Him. Quit fighting against Him and flow with Him in the direction of His River. His river flows differently every day we must jump in without a life perseveres, without a paddle, and quit trying to go our own way. Jump in and rest. The River will take you everywhere you need to go. To answer your question your only part in your destiny and purpose starts with absolute surrender to the King of Kings. In a country that is ruled by a King, if a citizen is working against the King he is no longer a citizen but an enemy. Don't work against God but work with Him. He is the King of Kings. The Ruler of the universe and every knee including all earthly kings will bow before Him and his thrown. Why wait till you have to. Do it know.

Take steps to surrender to God today. You have heard it before. Discipline is the key to being a disciple. You have also heard to read your bible daily, pray daily. This is true, but can be religiously done with no results to a true relationship with the Lord. Isaiah 40:31 (New American Standard Bible) says, 31Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. Waiting upon the Lord is a very important discipline in a true Christian's life. When you pray do you only pray for yourself. Is there life in your prayers? Wait for Gods Spirit in prayer to begin to move you. He will lead you. He knows how to pray better and more effective then you. He knows what really needs to be prayed and who needs to be prayed for. When you pray do you just pray for a certain set time and then say bye and that's it or do you WAIT for a response from the Lord. When you read do you only read believing the bible is true but does not relate to your life. Do you believe that it is God speaking to you? When you read know God wants to teach you and speak to you. Those times are times of refreshing, strengthening, and fulfillment. It is like the times in the wilderness during Moses time when every morning supernaturally God supplied bread for food in the morning called Manna. Jesus said, "I am the true bread who has come down from heaven." The truth is many read and pray yet never receive true strength from the Lord. Wait for his Word, it is what feeds you and gives you strength for the day. Those who wait on the Lord will gain NEW strength. Sore with God through the wind. Trust God in his river.  Run and don't get tired. Walk and don't become weary. Notice all this is in God's control except waiting on the Lord. That is all you are required to do. Don't discipline religion in your life. Discipline surrender in your life. Trust him. Give yourself daily to him. Fall in his river and He will push you to the finish line of your destiny in God.

The more and more you spend with God in prayer and not just your self in prayer and the more you allow God to teach you in His Word and speak to you, the easier it will get. For a short while you will probably swim upstream then flow with God down stream and start swimming upstream again. Trust me on this, just be faithful to jump in that river daily, soon you will get tired of swimming upstream and will rest in God downstream in His perfect plan. You may say, " I am to sinful to be with God daily." I would say, "Oh really!" Since when did sin become the problem? Isaiah the prophet whom I quoted earlier was a sinful man, yet he trusted in God to clean him up. He told God he was a man of unclean lips so there was no way he could speak the oracles of God. He was wrong God cleaned him up. He accepted the call to wait on the Lord. God cleaned him up all by Himself and Isaiah became one of the boldest prophets of all times. When you jump in Gods River, His River will cleanse you. Jesus washed the feet of the apostles one day and when He came to Peter's feet, Peter began to swim upstream and said, "Not so Lord, I will not let you clean my feet." Jesus pretty much said you would have no part of me unless you let me do this and that you are already clean by the Words that I speak to you. You see it is Jesus that cleans us. It is His Word that cleanses us. Ephesians says that we are clean by the washing of the water of the Word. Where do you think that water is found? Praise God it is in that river. Faithfully jump in everyday. Even jumping in will begin to clean you, but when you finally get in and stop trying to swim upstream and flow with God in it, the ultimate cleansing happens. Get in, many are already there. Plenty of help from other who are surrendered are all around you. Let them help you trust. But ultimately trust in God. Whether you run, walk, swim, or sore like wings of eagles, you have to trust God and quite fighting against him. WAIT upon Him for strength and do very little in your own strength. Daily surrender by asking God to help you. God gives mercy GRACEFULLY to anyone who asks. God is Good and is worthy of your praise today. Swim with author and finisher of your Faith. Trust in God and He will make you a brand NEW MAN. You will walk in the resurrection power of the Spirit in the newness of the Spirit. You will Sore to your Destiny. God Bless!!

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